Nothing Normal
by The Fake Invader Zim
Summary: Danielle is moving. Which obviously sucks. And, it's just in time for fifth grade, the year right before Middle School. (Or perhaps, Middel Skool) But there are rumors. Rumors of death and violence, and what could lie behind the blocked hallway. Will Danielle manage to survive, even with the thought of ghosts lurking in her mind?
1. Strange Beginnings, or, A Prologue

Good things rarely seem to happen to good people, no matter what others think. How else would I be stuck in a run-down truck, moving to a house in who-knows-where? And I most certainly am _not_ looking forward to it. Not at all in the slightest. To make matters worse, I'm moving here just in time for fifth grade. Which is the most important grade of Elementary School.

Why? Well, by then everyone's about to go to Middle School. And in order to have a chance of being popular _there_ , you need to make a good impression _here_. And my problem is that nobody's going to know me there, so it's going to be even harder.

There's also the fact the School District can't even spell. It's not Elementary School, it's 'Skool'.

It's not Middle School, it's 'Middel Skool'.

It's not High School, its 'Hi Skool'.

Seriously, how can the 'Skools' be good if they're so obviously misspelled? I didn't even get a say in moving here! My mom and dad wanted a break from the city, and moved into an even worse area then we already lived in! I'm not even sure if the town's got a name.

Well, I suppose I should stop letting my mind wander and focus on the present. The road is bumpy. Really, really bumpy. It's making the truck go up and down at an uncomfortable rate. I hate it.

But then again, I pretty much hate everything right now.

"Danielle, what are you thinking?" my dad's voice seems to go through one ear and out the other. I'm really not in the mood to talk. But then again, I never answer to that question. It's so stupid how adults seem to want to pry into your mind all the time.

"Danielle! Answer me please," he says again. I shake my head, but know that nobody can tell.

"I'm thinking about how stu-exciting this is," I half-heartedly mumble. My mom looks at me with a smile.

"Honey, we're here!" She exclaims.

I can already tell that this is going to be absolutely horrible. I can also tell that I'll just have to deal with it.

I step out of the car, and look ahead of me. I see a cute little blue house that I'm assuming is ours.

"Well, let's get to the house! Everybody, follow me," we pass a multitude of nice houses in all shapes and sizes until we get to a grayish brown one. It's shaped like an upturned brick with a yellow 'roof', though to call if a roof was quite an overstatement. It was more like a slab.

An ugly, yellow slab on a gray-brown brick. What in the world did I do to deserve living in such a horrible place?

"So, this is it?" I ask flatly. My parents nod in unison.

Perfect. Just great. I'm stuck living in this pathetic excuse for a house.

"Let's get settled in!" My mom chirps, and I (unenthusiasticly) walk inside. There are boxes. Tons and tons of boxes.

"Your room's upstairs, go unpack and decorate it as you please," my dad tells me, so I head up the stairs. They're pretty creaky. It's like living in some kind of a stereotypical haunted house. If you somehow couldn't tell, I _hate_ it.

I start to rip the tape off of the boxes.

"Die. Die. Die, tape! Burn in hell!" I yell to it.

In case you're worried about how I'm talking, think back to when you were a fifth grader. Don't you remember those kids who went around saying 'Shit' like nobody's business?

If you wonder, I could be classified as one of them.

Too bad there isn't a fireplace to burn the tape.

There's already a mattress with a sheet set up on the floor. I pile all of the blankets and pillows that I have access to onto it. Bam! I have a magazine-worthy bed! Then, I take one off and spread it on the floor. I suddenly have a rug.

I'm done with my work, and squeak back downstairs. There's nothing to do. I sit on the floor. The floor's hard, I'm feeling that sitting on it was a bad idea.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, can I go outside? I wanna meet _friieendss_!" I put on a fake-cherrful tone.

"Sure!" My mom tells me. So I do. Making friends is _not_ on my mind. Just getting out of the house is.

I decide to take a walk, and I eventually get to a place labeled **City Park**. So we moved from a city to get away from the city, only to go to another city. That's some perfect logic there.

The park's likely to suck as much as the rest of the city, but I go in anyway. A boy about my age rushes to me.

"Hi! Are you new around here? What grade are you gonna start? I'm starting fifth! School begins tomorrow! Are you excited?" He asks excitedly.

"Yes, Fifth, and no," he seems a bit disappointed by my last answer.

"Also, you never gave me your name," I add.

"Oh, yeah, sorry! My name's Leaf! Well, it's actually spelled L-E-E-F. It's a family thing. What's yours?"

"Dan."

"But you look like a girl!"

"It's short for Danielle. And, what do you mean about your name being a 'Family thing'?" I say.

"Well, my great-great-great-great-I dunno how many greats-grammpa was named Deef. He liked it, so he named his son Jeef, who named his son Keef, who named his son-"

"I get the point. But thanks for answering. Do you know anyone else?" Leef nods.

I wonder if there were any daughters in his family. What did they do with them if they had them. Throw them on a doorstep with a note saying that they had to be taken care of? That sounds lame. I suppose that I'll have to ask him later.

For now, I'm just going to try and survive meeting others. Especially if any of them are like Leef.

* * *

 **Woo-Hoo! Chapter one already has 1,072 words in it. As you can tell, this is obviously appropriately tagged as horror. Don't worry, it's going to live up to that soon! And this, my friends, is a Next-Gen fic on steroids.**


	2. Other People, or, The Prologue's Return

"Hey! Squoo, Rinni! There's a new kid!" Leef seems to be unable to do anything but shout. Two kids, a boy and a girl, walk out.

"Squoo? Rinni? What kind of names are those?" I ask. They look offended.

"Our names," says the girl. I wonder who's Squoo and who's Rinni.

"The girl's Rinni and the boy's Squoo and this is Danielle but she goes by Dan but I like Danielle more 'cuz it sounds more like a girl!" Leef exclaims. He never learned what a run-on sentence is, and why to avoid it, I'm sure.

"But you'll call me Dan."

"Okay!" Says Rinni. Squoo just nods.

"Also, they're going into fifth grade, too!"

"Hey, should we tell them about the Skool's ghosts?" It's Squoo talking.

"Yeah! Leef, why don't you?"

Leef looks like a little kid who found out he got five birthday cakes.

"Okay!" Squoo and Rinni sit down and look at him, so I do too.

"So, there's this hallway blocked by a wall and a door but the door doesn't have a key. And there are _dead people_ behind it. And the dead people came back as ghosts!" Leef seems to think that's a suitable story. I try to hold in laughter, because it most certainly isn't.

"That's not how it happened!" Interjects Squoo.

"There's a deadly murderer behind the door and the ghosts are its victims!" I wonder if Rinni's going to have a plausible story.

"No, no, no, no. Years and years and years and I dunno how many years ago, there were three students. One day, they were found dead in the hallway with blood splattered on the wall. And also some lighter and kinda pink liquid. Two of them were from fifth grade, and one was from fourth grade," Rinni's is interesting.

"The teachers thought the hallway was cursed of whatever so they blocked it off. The other students missed Skool when the wall was getting built! The door, too. They were so lucky!" I see nothing lucky about that.

"Now they have rotting corpses or something there. Also, there are ghosts. One looks like a little girl with a black dress and purple hair. She's also wearing some kind of necklace but it changes a lot. She's harmless but can be scary sometimes," Oh, I'd never guess a ghost would be _scary_.

"Then there's another ghost but you never see his whole body. At least I think he's a he. You only see tiny glimpses of him at a time. Like a hand. Or an eye. Or maybe hair!"

"Then there's one more! He talks to you in your head!" That was quite an interesting story.

For a second I'm even scared, like a kid who found out he had to eat all five birthday cakes back-to-back.

"But how do you know it's true?"

"'Cuz my Mama's related to someone who was there. The story's been passed down forever," She says like it's the most normal thing in the world.

"You're all crazy people. I'm going back to my house," I tell them. They look rather sad and disappointed. But I ignore them.

And anyway, what's up with those names?

:;:;:;:;:

As soon as I get home, I noticed my parents have been decorating. They've added a couch. I sat down.

In case you haven't been able to tell, I sat on the couch. Why am I telling you this? The fourth wall manufacturers gave me a faulty one. I'm sure of it.

Well, anyway, let's get back to the sto-life. My life. My life.

"You added a couch," I point out.

"Mmhmm," it's my Dad.

The thought of a haunted school, fake or not, keeps distracting me.

Dead kids. It's like something out of a movie or book. And it's also a bit unsettling. Because what if those stories were true, and Elementary Students died. Maybe they were murdered.

Or maybe there's a murderer like Squoo said.

Or maybe it's just a load of bullshit.

Hey, don't look at me like that. Don't act like you didn't swear in your head as a kid.

Wait-Another brick just fell from the fourth wall!

 _Great_.

:;:;:;:;:

I get of the couch.

Of course I do.

I'm going to see if I can find the lunatics. Or should I say friends?

So I walk. And walk some more. And seriously consider taking a bus, but don't.

Eventually, I reach the city park again.

"Danielle! Danny! Dan!" It's Rinni.

Those kids are just pathetic.

"It's Dan. Just Dan," I say.

"And where's everyone else?"

"They left," So I'm stuck with the girl who went into detail about how she thought the 'Skool' was haunted.

This will be an _utterly perfect_ time.

Not.

"So? You believe me?" She asks enthusiastically. Like, way to enthusiastically for talking about dead Elementary Schoolers. It's actually kind of creepy. But the weird thing is, I sort of do.

"Yeah, sure," I say. She beams at me.

"Are you scared?"

"No," That's a lie.

"Were you scared at first?"

"No," that's another lie?

"Are you lying?"

"Ye-wait, no!" Rinni giggles.

"Don't worry! There's a good change that they're not going to hurt you!"

That girl needs some classes on how to reassure people.

"What if they do?" I can't help but ask her. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds.

"They won't. Don't worry about it, you'll only get paranoid. _Then_ they might torment you," So, they can torment. This isn't going to be a fun year.

* * *

 **School's starting in the next chapter! R &R! :) This takes exactly one thousand words.**


	3. Skool, or, The Prologue Left

How am I going to survive this? How in the world am I going to survive this? My heart's racing as I walk outside. My mom told me that someone was going to show me to the "Skool".

I wonder who.

I _really_ hope it's not going to be Rinni, Leef, or Squoo. That would be a nightmare.

Because those three are officially nutjobs. I hear a knock on the door, and open it.

There's a girl who seems a little younger than me.

"Are you Danielle?" She asks. I nod and walk outside.

"I'm Louina, I'm supposed to show you the way to the Skool. Let's go," For a younger kid she sounds pretty serious.

"Alright."

At least she's not crazy.

"So, has anyone told you about the ghosts?" Spoke too soon.

"Yes, as a matter of fact they have," I say.

"Who?"

"Rinni, why?" Louina grins.

"Oh, good! She does know the most about them. We should get going! Wait, what grade are you in?"

"Fifth."

"Okay. That would be Room Twenty-Six and Twelve Fifteenths."

"Show me," How are rooms divided into Fifteenths, anyway?

"Follow me! Also, your teacher might be mean, but I think she'll be better than the one before! She was the fifth grade teacher when the dead kids were still alive, but you have a new one now! She just started last year!"

Eventually we get to a room labeled this:

25 & 11/15

I can only assume that's it, so I walk in and take a seat. There's a young woman who I'm guessing is the teacher.

"So, your old teacher for this grade retired. And you're lucky. I don't try to be as evil as her. Now, who's here?" She calls roll. Everyone's here.

"Now, who's heard of the ghosts?" Ghosts this, ghosts that. I raise my hand, and so does everyone else.

"Good. Now we're going to be getting to work. Five plus five is ten. You hear that? Five plus five is ten," Someone puts their hand up.

"Yes?"

"Why are you going over simple addition?"

"It's my classroom, it's my rules," she says, and goes on with the lesson.

-!-!-!-!-!-

At the period we're supposed to get to lunch, I notice something everyone else is ignoring. There's a wall that looked like it once had a door to a hallway, but it got boarded shut. It must be what Rinni, Squoo, and Leef were all talking about.

"Hello?" I ask. I don't get an answer.

"Helloo?" Still nothing.

"Come out? I come in peace," I'm about to leave. I knew this ghost business was fake. But then something catches my eye-an eye. A single eye. Like, what the hell is a random eye doing here? Not that I'm thinking that. I'm mostly scared out of my mind.

Great. Now fear's making me start to hallucinate. The eye blinks.

"Go away, stupid hallucination thing!" I shout, backing off. I see a tear form. I run off and sit at an empty table.

"Hey, you saw the ghost," A kid sits next to me. I recognize him from class. He's the one who asked about the math. I nod, though it's mostly just to humor him.

"What did you see?"

"A disembodied...um...Y'know?" I'm feeling awkward saying it. Perhaps the ghost thing is some grand scheme and I'm so paranoid I'm thinking that they're real! That's a rather unsettling thought.

"They say that they killed him by pulling his body parts out, limb by limb. That's why you only see some of him! What did you see, anyway?" Everyone at this school's a total Wacko.

"An eye," I say.

"Cool!"

So, he thinks seeing disembodied eyes is cool. There's a line between weirdness and just being plain disturbing, and he's just crossed it. I go to another table.

Rinni told me about this ghost. If it's real, are the others real, too?

The school day's not even over and I'm feeling quite a bit worried.

* * *

 **Sorry for giving you this 707 word monstrosity. Finally I get to introduce the ghosts a bit more! R &R**


	4. See no evil, or, A Survival Attempt

Thoughts of the ghost are stuck in my head. Why would anyone be subjected to a death so gruesome? I try to remember details of it. Though, for the record, "it" was only an eye. I'm pretty sure that it was a grayish color. I see someone walking up to the other side of the lunch table. They're a girl with purple hair and a white flower shaped necklace. She sits down. I smile at her, but she doesn't return it.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Hello," she says in a calm voice, barely moving her lips.

"I'm Dan."

"My name is...My name is...I cannot remember my name."

"You can't remember your _name_?" I ask. Who the hell forgets that?

"Yes. I can't remember my name."

I've met another crazy person! Or maybe her name is "I can't remember my name". Who am I to judge? Then, I notice she doesn't have any food.

"Are you going to eat?" I ask. She shakes her head. I hope I don't catch some kind of crazy disease at this "Skool".

"Why not?"

"I don't eat."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to eat."

"Why not?"

"Stop whynot-ing me."

"Fine," under my breath, I whisper _why not?_. I look at my own tray. It has a red mush and a green mush and squished steak. At least I think it's steak. I prod it with a fork and it jiggles a little. Some orangish liquid oozes out of it. I'm not completely sure I want to eat, either.

"Yeah, the food does look pretty-" I notice the girl isn't there. "Pretty unappetizing..."

"Hey! I don't remember my name, come back!" I shout like an imbecile. The math kid looks at me, and grins. Then I see him run up to me.

Shit, what's he gonna do?

"You saw the other ghost I think!" He says.

"Another ghost?"

"Didn't you see a girl with purple hair and a necklace? Right? Right?"

"Yes. What makes you think that?"

"'Cuz she doesn't know her name and never has food! She's missing out, though. The food's great here! Also she disappears randomly!" Why are these kids so _weird_? Who gets excited over ghosts?

Wait-don't answer that!

Another brick from the fourth wall fell down! FUCK!

!.!.!.[[Technical Difficulties, please stand by.]].!.!.!

 _Briing! Pritrinng! Nniinring!_ The sounds of the bell to get back to class are stupid. But I go back anyway, because it's the first day and I need to make a good impression. Or maybe it's cool to skip class here? I'll find that out later.

"Welcome back, class. Now we're going to do science," Likely first-grade level science, if it's anything like math class.

"And it's my favorite kind of science! _Rocket_ _Science_!" Everyone lets out a groan.

A groan like the kid with five birthday cakes would make after he ate them all. It was a groan of agony.

AGGOONNNYY.

The math kid raised his hand.

"Yes?" Asked the teacher.

"We're only in fifth grade. Why are we learning rocket science?" He seems confused, but who can blame him? First we learn easy math, now hard science. It's stupid that we can't just learn fifth grade-level things. I start to zone out.

I imagine the eye ghost.

The girl ghost.

They were both real, so is the other one, the one who talks in your head real?

It's likely. I think of everything crazy that's happened in these first few days at this place. But the more I think, the more I hate it. I hate it like a cat hates it when they miss a mouse and never get to show their supposed prize to their friends.

(But those friends are human, so they're glad.)

Anyway, I hate it. I'm also scared, though I'm not going to admit it to anyone. That would be dumb, and fifth grade isn't a time to be dumb, unless you're a boy, because boys always seem to have time to do some idiotic shit or something. But ignore that brief sexism, I'm just a ten year old girl.

Dammit, _another brick_!? Seriously?

"So, Danielle, what is a nose cone?" I snap back to reality with that question. Zoning out was a bad idea.

"A thingie put on noses to protect them from rocket fuel or something? _Is the answer eleven?!_ "

"No, and no," the teacher says.

"What about you, Eeuqs?" She asks. I'm now thinking that I was just really, really stupid, though. That's what I'm thinking of. But then, I hear somebody whisper something to me.

"Rocket Science doesn't matter. You aren't stupid."

* * *

 **But are nose cones eleven? Sorry for the wait, this has been a tricky chapter to write. As always, R &R!**


End file.
